Beaumont School Features in the Architects Journal On-line edition

We are very happy to announce that our latest Educational Project: Beaumont School opens today!

Beaumont School is a mixed comprehensive catering for 11-18 year olds which became an Academy in 2012. Located behind houses on a typical residential street just outside the centre of St Albans, the school was struggling with a congested access point, a shortage of classrooms and outmoded sports facilities. Recently rated as Outstanding by Ofsted, the school is the most over-subscribed in St Albans, making the facilities shortcomings even more acute.

We were briefed to deliver more classrooms, a new sports facility as well as conference facilities and a community gym. To achieve this we re-orientated the school, turning it through a 90-degree angle and designed a series of roof pitches that not only link the various school buildings together, but also make them flow as a whole.

The school now has a striking new reception area. Previously the entrance was accessed via a long alleyway running between existing houses which was narrow, noisy and congested with no positive visual impact. There is now a brand new glazed entrance and main reception reached directly from the main road, complete with drop-off area and cycle parking, all of which set the tone for a modern and contemporary campus.

Eleven new classrooms have been included in the design. Nine are general teaching made light and airy with vaulted ceilings, and two IT specialist rooms, plus a conference room. The new 4 court sports hall includes 5 lanes of cricket netting, as well as 4 club standard badminton courts, changing and storage facilities. The original gym building, instead of being abandoned, has been re-used as a dedicated trampoline facility. An external amphitheatre has also been included to facilitate outdoor learning as well as working as an event space for outdoor performance.

The new development provides a fitness suite, with café, for the community which can be closed off from the rest of the school to facilitate out-of-hours use.

We are delighted to have been granted planning permission for this exciting project in Beckenham!

We’ve just secured Planning permission for a new build, contemporary family home in Finsbury Park. The site is nestled in the heart of the Whitehall park conservation area and we’ve crafted a subtle, modern & sustainable addition to the existing street scape. The detailed design is underway and we’re looking forward to moving onto site in the near future.

We have just submitted this new build 3 bedroom canal side house for planning.

The design concept takes its cue from traditional boat house and barn architecture utilising a simple timber clad shed form as the major massing element. Each gable end features a recessed façade framed by the roof and flank walls wrapping around. The orientation frames views to the canal and the spire of St. Mary’s Church opposite whilst providing seclusion from the adjacent highway and neighbouring properties.

The mass and pitched form of the proposals, with the second storey nestled partially within the roof eaves, creates a ‘bookend’ to South Bank Road providing an appropriate degree of presence without being too overbearing. A low adjoining garage accessed from the existing driveway on New Road completes the composition and additional off-street parking is provided at the rear of the property adjacent to South Bank Road.

We’re on our way to this year’s Regional RIBA awards with our project for the Rathfinny Winery shortlisted. We’re up against some beautiful projects so the competition will be fierce.. Fingers crossed!

In the summer of 2014 we were commissioned to design a new sports hall and classrooms for Beaumont School, St Albans. On Friday we presented our proposals to the local community as part of the consultation process in the run-up to submitting for planning permission. I’m pleased to say that the overall response was extremely positive – next stop planning!

The project proposes to provide a new 4 court sports hall, fitness suite and associated changing facilities together with much needed additional teaching space and a visitor’s entrance to the school. A new car park will include coach access, drop-off points and dedicated staff & visitor parking. The new car park will incorporate semi-mature tree planting and is located between the school and the new housing development to the south thereby acting as a buffer between these zones whilst maintaining a more open aspect on land which was once playing fields.

Designcubed has been voted ‘Best of Houzz 2015’ today, with nearly 2000 members adding our project pictures to their idea books!

http://www.houzz.co.uk/

We’re very excited to be involved again in the London Open House Event for the fourth year running. Open House London is the capital’s largest annual festival of architecture and design, taking place on 19 & 20 September 2015.

Open House was started in 1992 as a small, not-for-profit organisation to promote public awareness and appreciation of the capital’s building design and architecture. The intention was to open up London’s splendid buildings to the general public who don’t otherwise have access. We saw this as a way of helping the wider community to become more knowledgeable, engage in dialogue and make informed judgements on architecture.

Courtyard House

Single-storey courtyard house on constrained site, built out to the perimeter whilst providing light and private views to the habitable rooms and avoiding overlooking of the surrounding properties. Bathrooms are located along the street facade with opaque glass windows to provide a buffer zone between the living space and the pavement.

We’ve just received planning permission for this single storey extension in South East London. It follows a simple asymmetric pitched roof design which enables the eaves to be kept low on the neighbours boundaries with the ridge point aligned with the exterior wall to the existing lounge.